A Rose In Bloom
by Sparks94
Summary: War is brewing, has been brewing for thousands of years, only getting more vicious as the clock ticked on. There can only be one apex predator, Cold ones and Vampires have been at each others throats for the title. Bella finds herself smack bang in the middle of the war, games, lies and personal demons littering her path. How is one human ment to survive? Godric/Bella
1. All you need is family

Disclaimer- I own nothing, they belong to the own writers. I'm just playing around.

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AN- IMPORTANT!- I know, I know, I'm a awful fanfic author. I've been getting a lot of messages lately if I was going to update 'A Blooming Rose'. Re-reading it however made me cringe slightly. There was just so many spelling mistakes and even in the short time, my writings changed slightly. So instead of just dropping the story, I am re-writing it. A blooming rose was the first fanfic I ever wrote and to be honest, too close to my heart to just abandon.

I am not just checking spelling, I'm tweaking the plot as well. Adding things I hadn't before. So it is practically the same plot but some things have changed, some major things.

Mainly the reason I couldn't just leave it alone was you people, all of you are so GREAT. the response was amazing, truly heart warming. So in return I want to give the best possible version of this.

WARNING - If you like Charlie and Renee, either don't read this story or don't complain about what I have done to there character. I know it seems outrageous but I promise you, I haven't just ruined them for no reason. This does lead somewhere and will be explained at a later date through the story. Just please don't jump the gun. I have also changed Bellas bad birthday party from eighteen to seventeen. It just fits better in my timeline.

I have no Beta, so mistakes are all mine, I have however checked and double checked, if I missed a few I really am sorry. Just please keep this in mind.

To the new readers, I hope you enjoy!

as always please review, I really do love hearing what you people have to say. favourite and follow if you want to too! :)

-Sparks94 _

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3rd P.O.V

Bella was perched on the end of the window sill, staring aimlessly at the darkening night sky. There would be no stars out tonight, the constant cover of clouds would see to that. Forks weather was oppressive, always bearing down upon you. She really missed the sun and clear skies, the way you could just look up and loose yourself in the wide openness of blue hues. All she received her was gloomy greys. It pretty much summed up what her life had become.

She could faintly hear the quite snores of Charlie from the next room. It broke up the mundane silence that she had found encasing her more often then not lately. Night time was always the worst, it gave her time for her mind to wonder and remember. It no longer hurt her to remember, no, it pissed her off. Seeing, thinking about it sent her blood boiling. All that rage that settled into her pores was only directed at one person. Herself.

She had lost it when Edward had left her shattered on the forest floor. Giving her the same kind of courtesy you would a used Kleenex. She supposed that how he viewed her, in the end. Something to be thrown away and forgotten. Her world had crumbled around her, and so had she. Like a puppet with no strings, A dog with no owner who sat at the door and whined and whined, only Edward would not be coming back to give her pat and a biscuit for being a 'good girl'. It made her sick to her stomach. How could she let herself fall so far from who she was?

She felt foreign in her own skin. Things she had never seen before became clear. The Cullens were master manipulators. They had scooped out everything that made her, her and filled it with straw, a cheap imitation of herself. A pretty doll to put on the shelf and admire. The worst part, the dagger to the heart, was she had let them. She had spoke how they wanted her too, acted how they wanted her too, wore what they told her too.

Looking back at how she used to be and who she was now was... shocking. She couldn't believe they were the same girl. She had cooked, cleaned, worked. She had looked after her mother, looked after Charlie when she could. She was the one to sort the bills, the one to wash the clothes. How could she let herself go from that to... whatever the fuck she was now? She had always been able to look after herself, relying on no one because she had no one to rely on, now she couldn't even bring herself to eat, let alone anything else.

It was four months after the Cullens ditched town that she began the arduous task of healing. It was anything but easy, but slowly she got there, taking baby steps all the way. The biggest turning point was when she found that little black box. It housed her birthday presents and photos from that dreadful day. It was hidden underneath one of her loose floorboards. Edward must of hid it there, either in hopes that she would never find it or in hopes she would. More than likely the latter. It wasn't exactly a hard place to find.

Spilling the contents onto the floor, she gingerly fingered through them. Each item that passed through her finger tips made her anger flare even higher, the photos being the worst. It was like rooting through someone else's belongings. She wasn't that girl, smiling dumbly and the camera. It felt like she was looking at someone wearing her face, the features were right, the pose was right, but the expression was wrong, her eyes were wrong. They looked as hollow as she felt when Edward left her. Her mothers painted doll sprang to mind and it made her take action.

She clumsily gathered the offending items into her arms and dashed for the bathroom, dumping the contents into the sink. Yanking open the cabinet she rooted around until her fingers grasped cool metal. Pulling her prize from its hiding place, she ran her thumb over the cool dented metal. It was an old metal and leather lighter, once belonging to her grandfather. Flipping the lid, she span the wheel and smiled as the flame came to a spluttering life. Reaching down, she set fire to everything she could and hoped the rest would soon catch alight too. Like some kind of scene from a crappy romance film, a picture of her and Edward was on top. She watched avidly as the photo crackled under the heat, watched as his and her face bubbled, crisped and blackened. She got some sort of joy watching it, a sort of revenge, even if it was only on something that looked like him.

The healing after that picked up pace. Parts of her old self came back. Only not quite the same. She didn't think she would ever get back to the girl she used to be, or ever be that hollow shell again, but she was glad. In the ashes of the old Bella stood a new fortified one. One who wouldn't break again, but wouldn't let everyone walk all over her either. No more running after people, no more caring for people who didn't care for her. It was freeing.

It was that which led her to pick up the phone months later. There was only one place she wanted to go, one place where she could be fully herself, didn't have to look after anyone, where she felt loved. That place was her Nanas. Nana had always let her be herself, let her be the child she was supposed to be. The summers she got to spend there were the best memories she ever had.

She didn't need to speak much, for which she was grateful. She didn't even need to ask to come down, the older woman had pretty much demanded she come and stay. Nana had told her it was about time she came home. In fact, the normally warm toned woman was quite pissed she had gone to Charlies in the first place, instead of heading to Louisiana the first chance she got.

Home, it was something Bella really wanted right then and she realised from her memories of the comely house in rural Louisiana that, that was exactly where she was heading. After hanging up the phone, the truest smile she had felt in a long time graced her face. Home it seemed, was just in reach.

So here she was, a year later after Edwards departure. A loud car horn brought her out of her thoughts. Jumping up from her place, she scooped up her already packed backs and ran out of the room. She paused at the top of the stairs, glancing at Charlies shut door. She couldn't bring herself to wake him up, she would only get a cold re-buff and a 'see you sometime'. He would also be pissed she had woken him up. Even so, he knew she was leaving tonight, so if he really wanted to say good bye he would of stayed up the extra half an hour.

Blundering down the stairs two at a time, she managed to get out to the front door without a broken appendage, which was a big achievement for someone like Bella. Stepping out into the chilly air, she dropped her bags and locked the front door, posting the key back through the letter box. She wouldn't need it anymore. Turning around she spotted just who she wanted to see.

He hadn't changed much, scruffy jeans and a sleeveless shirt, messy blonde hair that needed a good brush. Grinning she flung herself at the man, laughing as he swirled her around and hugged her to him.

"Hey hells bells! Jesus, when did you grow out of pigtails and scratched up knees? What are you, twelve now?"

Bella grinned at him as he placed her back onto her own two feet. She knew he was just baiting her, but she couldn't resist the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, so she smacked him upside the head.

"Jay, I swear, to you I've been twelve for the last six birthdays. I know its hard to count but say it with me, EIGH-TEEN, eighteen."

He playfully swotted at her arm before bending over and picking up her bags, dumping them in the bed of his blue pick up.

"You see, I go to say it but twelve just keeps coming out. Are you sure you're eighteen? You've gotta stop growing on me Bells, you're making me feel old and I'm still in my prime! What will the ladies think?"

Bella laughed loudly as she slid into the truck. The leather of the seat moulded around her as she settled in. This was why she loved old cars. You can't beat the little things, like wooden dashboards and worn leather seats. He got in beside her and twisted the ignition key, The car roared to life, sending smalls vibrations through the seats.

"Oh my, is that a wrinkle Jay? And I'm pretty sure that's a grey hair!"

He scrambled for the flip down mirror, searching his face in the reflective surface before catching on and scoffing at her, eventually joining in with her laughter.

The two set off down the dark road, the further she got from Charlies house and out of Forks the lighter she felt. All doubts about this being the wrong idea vanished. She was going home, to her family, and nothing felt better than she did right then.

Jay reached over, one hand still on the steering wheel, and grasped hers in his other. His palm was rough and warm. Bella squeezed back.

"It's good to have you back Bells. You don't know how much everyone's missed you. Grandmas been practically splitting at the seems with excitement."

Bella smiled. She didn't need to tell him how good it felt going back, it was written all over her face.

"Its good to be back Jason, I missed you guys too, you, Sookie, Nanna. Cheers for coming so quick. You really didn't have to come the same night I called."

Jason took his hand back and blew off her thanks with a wave of his hand.

"We Stackhouse's stick together Bella. You know that."

* * *

Jason and Bella pulled into Bon Temps early the next morning. The sun was blazing away in the cobalt blue sky. Bella smiled, There was not a cloud in sight. By the time the two of them pulled up to the white house, she was buzzing in her seat. She felt the most energetic she had in a long time. Too animated to sit still for too long, Bella bulldozed her way out of the truck, leaving behind a chuckling Jason.

She found her grandmother where she thought she would. Standing over the steaming stove, blue apron on and spatula in hand. The sight of it nearly made her weep. She hadn't realised just to what extent that she had missed these people, now she knew however, she was damned sure she wouldn't be dragged away like last time. Come hell or high water.

When Renee got to bored at playing mother, or she realised just who Bella was, when Charlie would rather be fishing, they would send her here. Bella thought that they used to do it in an act of punishment. They couldn't have been more wrong. Sending her here was like giving her Christmas and her birthday wrapped up all in one. Never mind that Renee and Charlie never celebrated them with her.

She could always count on Grandma Adele to greet her with a hug, to cuddle and play and talk with her. Something she didn't get from either her mother or father. Sending her here was the best thing they had ever, and more than likely, ever would do for her.

"Nana!"

Bella yelled as she jogged to the elderly ladies spread arms. The smile on Adele's face could rival the sun, and just like the sun it warmed her up from the inside out.

"Oh baby bells, look at you! Still as beautiful as the day you were born."

Bella was reluctant to leave Adele's arms, thankfully it seemed Adele was just as reluctant to let her go. She felt whole again, of finally being home. Of course, Jason in all his social skills ruined the moment.

"Grandma, where's the food?"

Bella couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled its way up. Good ol' Jay to think of his stomach first, well when he wasn't thinking with the thing between his legs that was.

Bella let herself be pushed into an open seat, and smiled gratefully at the large breakfast Adele placed in front of her. Sausage, eggs, bacon, toast, beans and a full glass of orange juice. Hearty food that Bella could only relate back to her Nana. Adele playfully rolled her eyes at Jason as he scoffed his down like there was no tomorrow. Bella couldn't swipe the grin from her face. No matter how long she was gone for, she was pretty sure some things would never change.

"You alright dearie? And don't even think about picking at your food. I wont let you leave this table until you clean your plate, you need some meat on those bones, Hasn't Charlie been feeding you?"

Bella grimaced slightly. What was she meant to say? I only get to eat when I cook it? And these last few months I've been an extra from The Walking Dead. No, it may have been prideful but she never wanted to speak about how weak she was. Didn't want to admit it, especially to her nana. The woman was the definition of strength. Never letting anything break her down, even when her husband went missing and Renees brother had died.

"You know how Charlie is, he can hardly do toast without burning the house down."

Bella tried to joke. Try and airbrush over how crap her family life was. Charlie wasn't the worst parent. Not by a long shot. After the... incident though, he became distant. Disengaged from her as if what she could do was catchy, like a virus. He never hit her, never raised his voice after what had happened when she was ten, but he did treat her like she didn't exist. Just a shadow moving around, not something to acknowledge.

Unfortunately Nana Adele was observant. A trait Bella had gotten from the woman. By the looks of it, she wasn't buying anything Bella was trying to sell.

"I could never stand that man. Don't try and pull the wool over my eyes Bella. I know your father, I know your mother to, I know what they are like. Why in the world did you go to him instead of here?"

Bella tried to swallow. Trying pointlessly to convince herself that, that was a lump of sausage in her throat, not bottled up emotion. She refused to cry, refused to give a single more tear to her lot in life. She had stopped crying over her parents lack of love for her when she was eleven, and she wouldn't... couldn't bring herself to revert back.

"Look Nana... What else could I have done? You had Sookie and Jason, you didn't need me darkening your doorstep. I would have just got in the way."

Bella jolted back in her seat. Adele had the spatula jerked in her face, as if she was wielding a knife. The fury blazing in her Nanas eyes did nothing to calm her frantic nerves. Bella shot a glance at Jason but found no help. He was holding his hands up in surrender, leaving her to the lion in floral dress that was her grandmother.

"Don't you dare talk about yourself that way, ever! You are MY granddaughter. My family. You are never in the way, you hear me? We are family Bella. If I still had the bones I used too I would have marched right up there and took you. Damn the law. The child services should have given me the rights any how, but with me being in my older years, already in the care of Jason and Sookie, and having no proof, they never let me. That doesn't change the fact that you're my blood. Jason and Sookies Blood. If you ever find yourself in that position again, you get you little butt here, okay?"

Bella frantically nodded. The spatula retreated and Bella sagged in her seat, letting Adele's words sink in. She never knew Nana had fought for her. She isn't surprised she didn't know though, It wouldn't be like Renee or Charlie to tell her. Still, it made her eyes misty to know that at least one person out there cared.

Thankfully conversation turned and she felt more comfortable with the topics. She nearly spewed out a mouthful of eggs when she found out Sookie was dating a vampire. Not the kind Edward was, but the kind that thought the best way to come out was to do so on national television. She wondered if all types of vampires had a flare for dramatics.

She was happy Sookie had found someone who took her for who she was, but she was weary as well. She may be smearing the relationship with her experiences with Edward and the Cullens, but something didn't sit right in her gut, and it wasn't the bacon. From the snit bits she gathered from Nana and Jason she saw a reflection of her and Edward. Fast progression, and all consuming. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

She had nothing against Human/Vampire relationships. Far from it. The world was a tough place that wants to rip you apart bit by bit. If you're one of the lucky bastards to find love, you better damn well fight for it, and clasp it with both hands.

Bella held back on her judgements. Who was she to judge anyway? If this Compton fellow excepted Sookie and made her happy, Bella was happy, until she saw something to prove otherwise.

Breakfast was over quicker than she thought. She had cleaned the plate and downed the juice without even realising she had done so.

"You might want to pop over and see Sookie, she's been vibrating with energy since she found out you were coming."

Bella sighed, sliding down her chair a little as if to dive and hide under the table. Sookie was a whirlwind wrapped in blonde hair and southern hospitality, but a whirlwind all the same. They should really have weather warnings for the small blonde. Bella could see it. A prim and proper woman, standing in front of a picture of Sookie. Voice loud as she spoke 'Sookie weather warning: level two, please were hard hats and protective clothing ; I repeat, level two!'

Bella didn't know how her cousin had such energy, but when it was aimed at you, it was lethal. Squaring her shoulders, Bella got up and took her dishes to the sink, intending to wash up only to have Nana swipe at her hands with that damned spatula. It stung her knuckle and made her drop the dish soap back into its resting place.

"No you don't. I can handle the dishes just fine young lady, listen to your cousin and go see Sookie, the quicker you go the less... bouncy she will be. Go on, let your hair down and be a teenager while you still can."

Bella smiled, snaked her arms around Adele's neck and hugged her. Letting go, Bella walked over to Jason.

"Can I borrow your car? And can you give us directions to this dinner?"

Jason nodded, cheeks bulging with god knows what. Ripping some paper from his wallet, he scribbled down the directions in hardly intelligible writing and chucked his keys at her. Luckily she caught them just before they hit her. Bella paused at the door way and looked back. Adele was at the sink, scrubbing away and Jason was cramming food down. It made her smile, Nana was right. This was her family and she really should have came here first.

* * *

As she was driving down the road, her mind wondered. It was never a good thing when her mind did this. It often locked onto things she would rather forget than ponder. like the first time Charlie and Renee found out Bella wasn't quite normal. They were visiting Bon temps in the summer Bella turned six, something they always did. Only this would be the last time they went as a family.

It was no secret of what Sookie could do in the family. She was a mind reader. Charlie and Renee were god fearing Christians. They shied away from Sookie, but Bella didn't. After about an hour of playing together, Bella did something she shouldn't have been able to. She read Charlies mind. It freaked them the hell out. Charlie and Renee ended up dragging her away, throwing her into the car and driving as if the gates of hell would open and satan himself was on their heels. Bella didn't understand it at all, at the time. They never visited again, but the responsibilities of being parents were something Charlie and Renee were never good at, so they packed her off to her grandmothers the next year.

It was then when Jason, Sookie and Bella watched a film were the womans hands glowed as she healed people. The next day they were playing as normal, when Sookie fell out of the tree, grazing her knee in the process. Bella thought it would be funny to pretend to be the woman, only it was not so funny when her hands glowed and Sookies scrape healed.

It snow balled from there. When Jason bullied Sookie, Bella and Nana into watching the X-men, they had a show. Only it wasn't from the TV screen and good skills of the actors. It was from Bella turning blue and bending the metal spoon from her ice-cream in her hand when she started panicking. Jason had looked at her with awe but it was Sookies and Nanas face that was seared into her memory, shock and concern. Thankfully, none of it lasted, she could only hold certain things for little bursts at a time.

She was young then, too young to grasp how bad this could be. It was when she was nine that she got the full taste of what this meant for her. Adele had to sit her down after an incident in school. Being nine and remembering the look of awe on Jason's face, she had wanted to do that with her friends. Make them laugh and be happy like Jason was when she did what she could do with him.

At the time Gambit from X-men was her favourite thing, she wanted to dress like him, act like him, be him. So in school she had decided to delight her friends with a show. Picking up a pack of pencils, she had thrown them and made them explode like Gambit did to his cards. The kids loved it, however, the teacher not so much. It took Adele four hours to talk the teacher down. was adamant that Bella had snuck in some type of explosive and was threatening the class and children with it. She wanted Bella to get excluded and for the police to be informed. It never got to that point. Not with Adele backing her corner.

When they got home, Adele had sat her down and spoke to her. She had to keep this under lock and key. There was nothing wrong with her, she was special but other people wouldn't understand that. She had told her that people often got scared of things they couldn't understand.

They had a lot of names for the things she could do. Imitation, replication, but her favourite was mimicry. It sounded like a noise a bird would make and well, she was a swan. She took Adele's words to heart but Charlie and Renee were the ones to cement her fear.

She was ten, and so impressionable like all ten year olds. After an argument Renee had looked down and upset. She had only wanted to cheer Renee up, so she turned herself blue in hopes of a laugh. She received a shriek of fear instead. Charlie had come running in and saw his ten-year old and stumbled back with a yell. There shouts muddled together, bleeding into one loud noise. Bella could only pin-point some of the things they had said.

They thought she was possessed, that the devil was inside her and he would eat her soul, that she would burn in the fires of hell for eternity if she didn't repent. Being ten, she believed every single word. After the yells and Renee shaking her so hard she thought her brain would come loose, Renee dragged her into the narrow hallway. Charlie still frozen in fear at the doorway, fear of her. Renee had opened the under stairs closet and dragged Bella to it. Bella hated that damned closet. It was small and dark and everything that scared her. Bending down Renee had come face to face with her, telling her she better pray and pray hard. She proceeded to shove her into the closet, locking the door.

Bella had cried and banged on the door until her hands were sore and her voice horse. It wasn't the last time she was shoved into that closet and the effects were permanent. She never did anything out of the norm again, and she LOATHED small enclosed spaces. The doctor said she was severely claustrophobic. Bella disagreed to some extant, she just couldn't stand the flash backs she got or how she threw up afterwards.

Its why she never told the Cullens. She knew how they would act, just like Renee and Charlie. Everyone would. She had enough trouble fitting in with them without adding the whole freaky things she could pull of. In hindsight, she should have told them. They might of stayed then, if they knew she could run just as fast or be as hard as they could, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Every time she thought about copying something, Renee, Charlie and that mouldy closet came to mind. Even now the smell of mould made her wretch.

Pulling over, Bella snapped back to reality. Her knuckles were white against the tan steering wheel. She fought to get her breaths back under control. Chanting in her head to forget, push it back and lock it down. Just don't think about it, don't think, don't think, don't think.

Her shaking stopped and she could breath normally once more. Shaking herself, she squared her shoulders and set out. Merlotte was a quant building. Opening the double doors she walked in, and walked straight into someone. The drinks on her serving platter tilted and careened. Reaching over she helped the red headed waitress re-balance her drinks and shyly laughed.

"I'm so sorry! honestly, I could hurt someone in a padded room."

She checked out the woman to make sure she didn't damage the poor woman and sighed when she found she hadn't.

"That's alright darling, aren't you a pretty little thang! My names Arlene, can I help you?"

Bella noted the woman had a warm smile and settled a little. She had braced herself for scowling and cursing. Running a hand through her curly hair, she looked around the place. It reminded her of what she thought a hunters cabin would look like.

"I'm Bella, I'm just looking for-"

She never got to finish her question as a tornado disguised as a blonde woman blew her way over and grabbed her in a vice like grip.

"Bella! when did you get here? I missed you so much!"

Sookies southern twang was prominent and way too endearing. Sookie had grown older but hadn't really grown upwards since she last saw her. Bella couldn't really make fun, she herself was the same height, so was her mother, it must have been a Stackhouse thing. Sookie looked like one of the porcelain dolls Nana had on her shelves, bouncing blonde curls and all.

"This morning, Jason came and got me. I missed you too."

Bella had just enough time to brace herself before Sookie wrapped her arms around her and nearly squeezed the life from her. She did her best to return the strong hug.

"Just thought I would pop over and see you, you up to anything today after work Sook?"

Bella managed to squeak out as the blonde let go, dragging her to a chair and pulling her to sit as Sookie did the same on the next bar stool.

"Well today Bill is doing this historical speech for the local church group Gran goes too. You should come along!"

Bella became a bit edgy at that. It was no secret that she was socially inept. The last thing she wanted to do would be to embarrass Sookie. Seeing Sookies bright and hopeful face dashed all refusals. When had her cousin got so good at the puppy dog look?

"Of course I will Sook. I'm just going to pop out for a bit, looking for work, but I'll come back and we'll head there together yeah?"

If possible Sookie glowed even more, the brightness from her face almost becoming something tangible and corporeal. Bella wanted to try and reach out and touch it, only to manage last second to pull her hand back into her lap.

"SAM GET OVER HERE!"

The spell was well and truly broken. She didn't even now what octave that was but she was a hundred percent sure it could break glass. Maybe even shatter stone. A man in his late twenties, middle thirties at a push, came sauntering up the bar. Hand running up the rich oak as he went. He had stubble, sandy blonde hair and a wide, warm smile. Bella wondered if everyone in Bon Temps was warm or if she had been in frigid Forks for so long she forgot what real people were like. Bella hoped it was the first.

"Geez Sookie, no need to yell."

The smile on Sookies face never faltered.

"Well, this is my cousin Bella and she's looking for a job, you know you're not going to find someone better by nightshift and lets face it, this place gets too busy for just us to handle. Plus you owe me for all the double shifts I pull."

Bellas mouth popped open and she glanced between the man and her commandeering cousin.

"Sook! You cant just bully the poor man into giving me work!"

Sookie out rightly laughed at Bella.

"Of course I can! You're my baby cousin, if I cant bully anyone for you then I'm never going to get to bully anyone with my height!"

Bella managed to keep a blank look on her face before she broke and laughed along with Sookie. When was the last time she had laughed so hard? Bella had a feeling it was the last time she was here. she relished in the lightness of her chest, it felt good.

"Pretty sure I pay you for those double shifts Sookie. so Bella? How about I give you a test run today and if you're any good you can join this crazy lot tomorrow?"

Sam said with an eyebrow raised high. Bella disbelieved this for a moment. Getting work couldn't be that easy could it? She snapped herself out of it. She wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Sure, that sounds great if you don't mind. I mean you don't have to listen to little blonde wonder over there."

she sent Sookie a wink and got a scowl and pout in return. It made her chuckle.

"Well, its a done deal. Go get some uniform from the back and shadow Sookie or Arlene for the night to get the hang of things. Any problems, come to me, I'll be in my office in the back."

Like the little energy ball that Sookie was, she swiftly grabbed Bellas hand and dragged her to the back, which Bella guessed was the changing rooms.

"Right get changed and we'll go refill the source bottle before lunch hour hits. You don't want to see how cranky these people get without mustard or ketchup."

After the orders had been given, Sookie pushed her into a small cubical and threw over a white shirt with the Merlottes logo and black shorts. The top was a bit tight and the shorts a bit too short but they weren't flashing anything and she could move in them fine.

"Sorry if the shorts don't fit well, they're mine!"

After making sure for the third time she wasn't showing something she shouldn't, Bella whisked her hair up into a pony tail and headed out.

The task of refilling the bottles wasn't a hard one, so it gave the girls a chance to chat as they worked. It was all going well, when Sookie spilt some ketchup onto her hand, causing Arlene to scoff as she dried the glasses with a wash clothe.

"I bet that vampire Bill would get a rise out of that."

Bella grimaced a little. Obviously she had spoken too soon about things going well. Sookie rose her nose up in indignation as she wiped the source away with a paper towel.

"Well you would have to ask him yourself."

Bella realised what this was straight off. Arlene wasn't a fan of anything with too long of an incisor.

"Vamp club not all it was made up to be, huh? a lot of freaks I hear."

Sookies mask of indifference crumbled and she slumped slightly in her seat.

"It was fine."

Putting down the glass she had been drying for the last twenty minutes, Arlene lent on the wooden counter. She looked like she was ready to pounce.

"So what? that vampire get all hands-y with you?"

Sookie maintained her level headedness, something Bella wasn't sure she would of done in her place.

"Arlene, look I can look after myself. And no I wont be going out with him again."

Now Bella was confused. She was pretty sure Sookie wanted her to come meet him? Setting down her own bottles, Bella turned towards Sookie.

"I thought we were going to meet him? at the church group?"

Bella didn't miss the flash of sadness in Sookies eyes. It was gone quick but not quick enough. She wondered what this Bill had done to her? Would Sookie hold it against her if she set him on fire? even if it was only a little bit, just an arm. Knowing Sookie, she would.

"We're going for Gran, it means a lot to her. You're all about history, I thought you might like it."

Bella smiled and reached over, patting Sookie on the back. She did catch the smile Arlene and Sam shot each other however, and it took her a few moments to catch on. Sam, he must like her cousin.

"Okay that place was freaky but how are you ever going to find out if you never go for yourself?"

Sookie said as she slammed the bottle onto the counter. Bella could see her cheeks flushing in anger and once again, Bella was left confused.

"What place?"

Arlene was the one to give her an answer, leaning over the bar and stage whispering.

"Sookie went to a vampire bar in Shreveport, things got a little crazy down there."

Bella froze, She thought the vampire club thing had been metaphorical. NOT literal. Spluttering, she tried to get a hold on herself. Sookie, in a vampire bar? The one who swears she's a darling and still wears teddy bear nighties? How the hell did someone like Sookie end up somewhere like that? Temper flaring she whirled onto Sookie.

"What? What were you thinking?!"

Sookie scrambled for a response, before her eyes blazed to life and she huffed out her anger.

"I didn't think you would be one of those idiots who hate something Because its different Bella!"

Bellas muscled tensed. Did Sookie not know her at all? How could she hate something for being different when she herself wasn't... right. She could hear Renees voice screaming at her in her mind. Possessed, not natural, cursed, not her daughter, you're wrong Bella, wrong, wrong, WRONG!. Her jaw tensed so much, she thought her teeth would crack under the pressure. When she spoke it was through her clenched teeth.

"Don't ever think, or say that to me again. You know I don't. However, I know you. You would have sauntered in there and acted like dinner. Not once thinking about the danger you put yourself in, or Nana and Jason."

Bella understood it all better than Sookie, because she would have done that a year ago. She WAS Sookie a year ago, and being on the other side of a stupid decision, she could point out and see its flaws.

"Well, you and Bill agree on one thing. I can look after myself and excuse me? I'm older than you. You're eighteen! This is not how it works. I lecture you, not the other way around."

With a synchronisation that even twins found hard, the two girls huffed, picked up there bottles and got back to work. Bella didn't look up, even when Sam spoke.

"I said my piece yesterday. Well Sookie, I hope you aint too riled up to miss the descendants of the glorious dead."

Sam was speaking quietly but everyone around them was staring at the duo. Some more boldly than others, not even trying to hide behind menus or the pretence of eating.

"Well we have to go, Grans spent the whole week on it."

Sam looked away from the blonde and Bella got a good view of his face, it looked like he was gathering all the courage he could muster. She quietly put her bottles down and lent in for the show. What was that saying? If you cant beat them, join them.

"Well good... Because I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me, than we can go get a cup of coffee after."

Bella smirked internally. This was too precious. It was like watching two toddlers circling each other. Hopefully this wouldn't end with Sam pushing Sookie into a puddle of mud, or pulling her pigtails.

"Oooooooooooooooh, Sookies got a date!"

Bella teased as she bumped her hip into Sookies. The anger she felt earlier dissipating completely. Bella always had trouble holding on to her temper or keeping grudges. It just wasn't in her character. Sookie laughed and smacked her arm gently, more to get her stop bumping her hip.

"Are you asking me on a date?"

Bella sank onto her seat. Apparently if you looked up obliviousness, Sookies face would be right next to it.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much how I do it."

The rest of the shift went smoothly. No more tense or anxious moments, Bella was gratefully. She didn't want to get angry when she hadn't even been here a day.


	2. The world fades to black

Sookie and Bella made it back home just as the clock struck six. By the time Bella had stumbled through the door, her cheeks were aching slightly from the constant laughing and smiling she had done throughout the day. She couldn't recall a time she had been so happy, so comfortable in her own skin. It was the type of pain Bella wouldn't mind having everyday for the rest of her life.

With a quick goodbye, Sookie bounced up the stairs to start getting ready for the glorious dead event, leaving a slightly out of breath Bella by the kitchen door. Leaning against the entrance, Bella took a breather before she too would start getting ready. Breathing seemed so easy here, natural even. She didn't feel closed in or trapped. No stress weighed her shoulders down, no thoughts of do's and don'ts swirling around her head, no sense of needing to hide or act a certain way. She felt... Free.

Pushing away the inner reflections, Bella pushed away from the wall and took off up the stairs her cousin had just moments before floundered up, blonde locks dancing as she went. Strolling down the hallway and to the last door on the left, Bella twisted the door knob and slid into the room. It used to be a spare room where her Nana stored her extra furniture, but as soon as the elderly woman had realized Bella was on her way, she had cleared it out and made a quaint but cozy bedroom for Bella to settle into.

As Bella shuffled over to the hulking cupboard housing her clothes, she pulled out the hair tie that was barely restraining her now rambunctious hair into something with resemblance of a pony tale.

Pulling the mirrored door open, Bella skimmed through her clothes, trying in earnest to pick something out that would at least show she had tried to look presentable, for her grandmothers sake. The woman had poured god knows how many hours into this whole event. Bella couldn't very well turn up in a tatty shirt and her favorite jogging bottoms, no matter how loud the soft fabric called for her.

She eventually settled on a white washed pair of skinny jeans, a simple white tank, her leather hiking boots and her favorite trusty leather jack that had seen one too many days. Casual, comfortable but presentable. Tugging the clothes on and lacing her boots up, Bella slipped back out of the room and stumbled down the stairs, nearly catching her foot on the carpet and taking a dive face first, only managing to right herself at the last possible second. Using the hair tie she had just pulled out of her hair, she tried her best to fix the curly mass of hair that, under the right kind of lighting, may pass for a bun.

As she walked past the hallway mirror, her reflection caught her gaze, nothing too noticeable was different, unless you had seen her when she was depressed. Her coloring had gained back its shine and her eyes twinkled merrily in the light the setting sun gave off.

Turning back around to carry on, her eyes flickered down to the mark blemishing her neck. For a birthmark it was quiet intricate, swirling and twirling around he side of her neck and towards the back. The blemish being shades lighter than her actually skin tone made the mark stand out ten times more than it really should have.

To Bellas gaze, it reminded her of some language, long lost to humanity. Shaking her head, Bella carried on towards the front door, stopping at the coat hook to pick up her thin cotton scarf, she wrapped the material around her neck, hiding the birthmark from view and thought nothing more of it.

Outside stood Sookie and Gran, both eager to get into the car and set off. Jogging over, Bella joined the women, clambering into the back of the yellow car Sookie owned and buckled up.

The Drive wasn't long and soon the car came to a spluttering halt in front of a simple building Bella guessed was the towns local church. It was made from paneling white glossed wood. The color of Birchwood flaking through in some places showing off the buildings age, or the lack of painters Bon Temps housed, Bella didn't know which. But the effect was all the same, rustic and homely.

The only thing that seemed to stand out was the splattering of stained glass windows the church held, depicting some of the more epic tales from the bible, like David and Goliath, and Bella was pretty sure one was either Moses and the flaming bush, or someone who is not happy with the curry they had ordered. Once again Bella couldn't tell you which one, but was more inclined to say its was the former. Like Bon Temps, it was understated, rustic but had an air of charm surrounding it.

Bella followed Adeles lead and entered through the big double doors, taking a look around the busying townsfolk darting around the place as they set up the venue. Some where filling up glass bowls with punch for refreshments, some were setting up steaming home made foods on foldable tables, and Bella even spotted on rather large lady trying to cover the golden cross at the alter with the American flag.

Bella didn't try and stop the snort that came forward from her. She knew without a doubt that crosses didn't bother cold ones, and she was pretty damn sure they didn't hurt this type of vampire either. She was sure some vampires were old, from what she knew of the Volturi, they were thousands of years old, a lot older than the two thousand years Christianity was. Why would a symbol, relatively made only a short while ago, hurt something that's been around so long?

Sookie was the first to split from the trio, obviously spotting the nervous looking Sam Merlotte waiting dutifully for her cousin at the door. The two smiled shyly, but warmly to each other as they entered the main hall, talking quietly amongst themselves.

Bella being the newcomer she was, decided her best course of action was to chicken out of mingling and stick to her grandmother like a limpet. Social interaction was so far down on her list of skills, she may as well be classed as a hermit now and be done with the whole thing.

So Bella found herself standing side- by- side with a beaming Adele, greeting the guest as they bustled through the doors, handing out pamphlets for the up and coming lecture. Some people seemed friendly enough, weary of the new face, nut friendly all the same. Others... Not so much. Not from the cold looks Bella was getting. It grated on her nerves to say the least, to be judged before she even had the chance to speak. Doing what she did best, she painted on a smile, and stood as still as she could, nodding when needing to and muttering the required hellos when necessary.

She smiled truly when she met Arlene again, finding out the red-head had two bubbly children and a boyfriend called Renee. She also met the mayor of Bon Temps, a gentleman in his later years who she found she liked with his soft demeanor and warm smiles. Her like for him plummeted when he fully opened his mouth however.

"Are you sure everything is safe Adele? Especially with your... Special guest. Who knows what he could do if something when wrong, you know about those murders around town, surely now is not the time to be letting one of... Those speak openly."

Bella huffed in exasperation, the noise making the crowd around her shoot her weary looks and guarded expressions. She was about at the end of her tether and by the flush of anger on her Nanas face, Adele was too.

"Look around you. Have we made any precautions for the killer going around town? Or any other person who could very well all of a sudden lose his shit and go for it? News flash, people kill just as vampires. In fact, at least vampires have a reason for it, survival and food. Humans don't, not in this day and age. I don't know about you but i can name ten times more human killers than i can vampires. Ted Bundy, son of Sam, Jack the ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer... Lets not forget Hitler. So why don't we do this little thing called educating ourselves before we open our mouths shall we?"

All she had gained for effort was blank looks dusted with a hint of disgust. Bellas shoulders sagged as she sighed. There was no reasoning with hatred or racism. None what so ever, she didn't know why she even tried. People had the tendency to fear the unknown, she herself knew this better than most people.

Maybe that was why she had lost her composure so easily. This... Bill was being judged for what he was, not who he was, ending up being labeled for something he had no hand in. That she could sympathies with. She highly doubted the poor guy had asked to be turned, that wasn't how his world worked. In all, it was a sore button that these people seemed to find so readily to push. Bella wouldn't stand for it, not when she was within ear shot of the venom being spewed.

Adele edged closer to her, rubbing a warm hand up and down her arm in a silent act of support. The heat of her skin breaking through her worn leather jacket, bringing her back to the moment and not lost in her inner angry rant. Flickering her gaze over, she saw Adele send her a gentle smile underneath knowing eyes. Nana had the knack of understanding her even when Bella herself didn't.

She didn't need to explain or justify with Adele, the woman had a sixth sense of just understanding. Raising her own hand up, Bella rubbed Adeles wrinkled hand in thanks as Bellas heckles settled down and she backed off from the twitchy crowd around them. It wasn't worth it. Thankfully, the Mayor and his wife left pretty quickly after that, their metaphorical tails tucked between their legs, it made Bella want to laugh as she watched them scurry away and disappear into the ever growing crowd.

Spotting Sam and Sookie coming over, Bella sent her Nana a nod and left to find them both a seat before all the good ones were taken. God forbid Adele went through all this planning, only to be squished up at the back, unable to hear anything the vampire was saying.

Bella herself was quite looking forward to the on coming lecture, learning history from the direct source, someone who had lived and breathed it, was a lucky situation Bella wanted to take full advantage of. Who knows when she would be able to get another chance to talk to a vampire who would be willing to part with anything?

Choosing a pair of seats in the middle, close but not too close, Bella wiggled and edged her way through with a few muttered 'excuse me's dropped in for good measure. Settling herself in, It didn't take long for everyone else to converge into the seating area, and with a short introduction from Adele, the evening started.

Everyone quieted and waited with bated breath for this mysterious Bill to show his face. Idly, Bella realized this was more than likely the first time some of these towns folk had even considered the notion of seeing a vampire in real life.

The man that did eventually step up to the podium was not what she was expecting at all. Dressed in a crisp grey suit, dark hair neatly combed with a pale complexion, he looked... Well normal. Gentlemanly yes, but all together normal.

It was odd, especially as Bella was so used to the constant perfection the cold ones exhibited. She could have very well passed this Bill Compton in the street and thought nothing of it, or him. In a way, it made his kind ten times more dangerous. You would never see one of them coming until it was too late.

However, she could see why he had ensnared her cousin so. He was Sookies every dream wrapped into one package, pretty bow and all. Tall, dark, gentleman with a southern twang. While Bella hadn't really gave much thought on who she would end up with, she did know she wanted someone intellectual, who wouldn't mind when she had her nose buried in a book and rattled on and on about some lost civilization or economic disaster. Sookie wanted her southern knight, decked out in grace and chivalry. Night and day really when Bella thought about it.

Bella watched avidly as he turned his back on the crowd, reached over for the flag covered cross and snatched the material with a flourishing swoop. She could hear all the gasps of shock around her, Bella only wanted to stand up and applaud the guy. It was nicely played on his part, dramatic sure, but it hit the point home. And to be fair, he was trying to win over a town full of bigots and people mentally trapped in the forties. With each passing word, he won her over that bit more. He was smart, polite even when some of the towns people had ignorantly offended him. Something Bella was sure if she was in his place, would have just said fuck it and walked out.

The speech carried on, reaching personal levels when he spoke about an old comrade he had back in the civil war. Coming to a finish, he asked if anyone had any questions. The Mayor stood up and cautiously shuffled his way to the podium, handing Bill a photo he believed was Bills decades ago. It was a small-ish photo, rectangular in shape and showed a happy family. At that moment, Bella saw his well placed mask of politeness slip and saw a emotion fleet across his dark eyes. Loss.

She couldn't sympathize with the loss of a family, never really having one herself excluding Nana, Jason and Sookie. She remembered watching other families coming to the school ground, how they interacted with each other, how happy they were and realizing she would never have that. It felt like a drop kick to the heart and you never really forget when you realize you will never have something or never have it again. It was one of lifes harder lessons. One she had learned at an earlier age than most.

At the end, surprisingly Bill having won over most of the town but a few rednecks and morons, people swarmed to him. Deciding not to wade into the obviously claustrophobic atmosphere, Bella hung back with a smiling Adele. When the crowd had finally died down but to a few stragglers, Sookie, Sam and Adele being the few closest, Bella took her chance and walked over, stumbling slightly before she reached him.

"Hello, I'm Bella Swan, Sookies cousin. It's nice to meet you, i just wanted to say you did a fantastic job out there."

He reached out his hand and Bella did the same to shake it. When she touched his skin, it was cold , not ice cold like the marble of the cold ones but had a chilly clam to it all the same. Bill smiled charmingly, breathing in deeply to reply when it happened. His fangs dropped with what seemed to Bella was a resounding clack. The enamel glinting in the artificial lighting of the church.

Within seconds he had yanked back from her and span around, shoulders slightly hunched down. Bella watched as the seconds that felt like hours ticked by before he finally turned back around, Fangs missing and apologetic grin on his face. Bella sagged a bit in relief. She did not want to die today, especially with Adele and Sookie so close.

"I'm sorry, i normally have better control than that. I don't know what came over me. Please excuse my behavior."

Bella nodded and smiled warmly at the man. She had been told before how 'delicious' she had smelled, it seemed that it didn't just relate back to cold ones. At least she had learned this from ever polite Bill, instead of running into one of his kind and finding out the harder way.

"Nothing to be excused, it's perfectly fine. No harm, no foul."

Luckily, the only people close enough to see and hear what had taken place was Adele, Sookie and Sam. Bella was thankful, she was pretty sure this town could turn into a mob with a flip of a coin. Or a click of a fang, seemed more accurate.

"Would you speak to me a moment Sookie?"

Bella glanced at her cousin and watched as Sam grew rigid. Not enough to look aggressive but just enough for an observant person to catch. Bella was Pulled away from her inner musings as Adele laid a hand on her arm and started backing up, Bella took her queue and did the same.

"Me and Bella are just heading home, We'll meet you back there Sookie, don't be too late now deary."

Bella smiled at the group before leaving with Adele. Sookie had given the two the keys to her small yellow car before entering the building, saying she would be fine catching a ride with Sam as the man had promised to grab a cup of coffee afterwards .

On the way back, with a few smatterings of chat with her grandmother, Bella felt happy. Today was a good day, a great one, the best she had had in a long while. She didn't know how bad it was going to turn once she stepped foot in Adeles house, or how quickly her life would spiral down a path she never saw herself taking.

* * *

Locking up Sookies car, the two women made for the house, Adele coming to a halt just shy the porch. Bella stopped and looked back quizzically. Adeles eyebrows were drawn down over her confused eyes, it immediately put Bella on edge.

"I could have sworn i left the kitchen and living room lights on. I always leave them on."

Bellas gut twisted, Adele was getting on in age but she was like an elephant, she never forgot a thing, for better or for worse. Surely someone hadn't robbed Adeles house? Everyone in Bon Temps knew each other, crime was practically none existent in this town. And who in hell would do something so horrid to her ever loving grandmother?

Taking the keys from her grandmothers hands, she pressed a finger to her lips and shushed the older woman. Proceeding to creep up the porch steps, avoiding the middle step as it squeaked, she whispered to Adele.

"Be quiet, stay just behind me okay?"

Adele nodded and Bella unlocked the door, slowly pushing it open and edging into the darkened house. Looking left and right, Bella didn't see anything amiss, tiptoeing into the kitchen, she squinted into the darkness, nearly getting blinded when Adele flicked the lights on.

Then everything happened at once, Adele screamed as a man dived for her, something sharp and glittering held up high. Before she could think, Bella jumped onto the mans back and held onto the arm that was holding the knife high, readying to slash at her grandmother.

Adele fell back into the cupboards and kitchen counter tops, chopping board dropping to the floor with a bang. Bella struggled to hold on as the man bucked and twisted, trying to throw her off.

He was successful when he decided to slam his back, and her in tow, into the kitchen wall. The air in her lungs left in a great burst as her chest spasmed under the pressure, making her limbs go limp and for her to drop crookedly onto the tiled flooring. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't breath, couldn't get the much needed oxygen into her burning lungs and aching chest.

Bella felt a rough hand on the side of her head, cupping her ear, and before she could blink, think or even cry out, her head was smashed into the tiled wall. Lights dancing before her eyes and sirens blaring in her ears as she fell onto the cold, stiff floor, the light of the room fading away as she watched the silhouette of the man head towards her cowering Nana, knife glinting even as the world around her faded to black.

* * *

 **NEXT CHAPTER** \- Adeles funeral takes place, a dream and Bella decides it's game on.

 **PREVIEW-** "I could have done something, anything. And i didn't. I let that... man stab... Kill... God dammit, i could have saved Nana! and i didnt, i stood back and let it happen. That's on my head. And all because of that closet, it keeps haunting me. Not again, never again. I'm going to find that bastard, and this time i'm going to tear him limb from limb. So, you either help me, or you get the hell out of my way Jason. So what is it going to be? Either get back in the house or tell me where that vampire bar is?"

 **IMPORTANT-** I know, i killed Adele off, but there was no way i could keep her in the story without most of what i'm planning not to happen. In my eyes, Adele would have sorted out Sookie within a blink of an eye. Plus Bella needed something dramatic, traumatic and hurtful to happen to snap her out of her 'i will not use my gifts' thing. However, don't expect Bella just to go crazy with her gift and forget all about the closet, Charlie and Renee. It was a very traumatic experiance for Bella and well, it wont so easily be broken when she has been living with it for years. Unfortanutly the mind just doesn't work that way. I also needed something to push her over the edge a little. Bellas locked her gift up in a box and pushed it to the back of her mind, that repression is going to have serious consiquences, especially linked to her emotions, that due to the death of Adele, are going to be all over the place.

This is a Godric/Bella pairing. I promise you, but it's going to take a while for it to get there. I really want Bella to be well placed within the group before that all takes place. I want her to have real ties to people, and for this not to end up as 'oh she went to Bon Temps, met Godric, they fell in love and rode off into the sun set' sort of thing. THAT doesn't mean that wont happen, but it will just take time. They should hopefully meet around chapter seven/eight. But do not worry! Hints of the actually plot will be thrown into each chapter, really starting from the next chapter.

Without anymore of my incessant rambling, i hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please review, it makes my fingers type faster ;)

-Sparks94


	3. How Do You Feel?

Bella pounded her fists against the wooden door in front of her, the smell of damp clogging the back of her nose and throat, the walls brushing her arms in the cramped space made her head spin and her breath come in shallow bursts. She was cornered, she was trapped.

She wanted out, she needed out. Her hands throbbed with the force she was using to try and break out but her mind couldn't properly focus on the pain, it only made her bang harder and faster. She couldn't see, the darkness around her was thick and hefty, it made her already panicked state climb drastically. God, she needed out.

She wasn't that scared little kid any more, she knew that, so why was she back in the one place she never let herself think about let alone be in again? Something tickled the back of her neck, like a wisp of breath fluttering across her skin, making goose bumps break out and flush across her body in a ripple of anxiety.

With startling clarity Bella realized it wasn't the darkness that was thick and heavy, it wasn't the smell or the cramped space... she wasn't alone. Her fists stilled their pounding for a split second before she started with renewed strength, giving her all to get out, and subsequently get away from the thing behind her.

Without seeing it, without actually knowing what it was, she knew it was bad, that it would do something terrible if she didn't get away from it right then and there. Bella could feel it in her bones, in her very core. Something sharp and pointy grazed the skin of her neck and she knew, with absolute certainty it was some ones tooth, a fang dangerously close to the soft skin of her throat.

Just as a scream was about to burst out of her chest, the lopsided wooden door vanished, as if it was never there to begin with and she went tumbling to the ground. Something soft and moist met her face and hands as she clutched at the ground. The darkness had lifted, but it took a few blurry blinks to right her eyesight to her new surroundings.

A parade of Green greeted her in multi-shades, the dewy softness she felt brushing her face was freshly cut grass. Slowly, with shaky limbs, she heaved herself up and took in where she was with a type of thankful bewilderment. The closet was gone, and in its place was a... Maze?

The hedges were lush with shapely leaves and higher than she could ever hope of seeing over. Instead of darkness, fog floated around her like clouds, obscuring the edges of her vision. Clambering to her feet, Bella edged down the path she found herself on, not really in control of her thoughts or feet. She had somewhere to go, somewhere she needed to be... Someone was waiting for her.

Looking down, Bella noticed she was bare foot, the blades of grass tickling in-between her toes and cushioning her footfalls. Little balls of lights floated around her and through the fog, lighting up the green scenery with a golden hue. Reaching out, she watched avidly as one of the little balls landed on her open palm, and once again she came to a revelation, they were fireflies. The little bug wiggled a little and then set off again, dancing through the air with its brethren.

The urgency set in more and made Bella pick up speed as she made her way down the path, that something in the closet was still here, lurking somewhere in the shadows, always in the shadows. Spinning around she tried to spot what it was but came up blank, nothing was there, but she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, of being hunted. What-ever it was, it was playing with her.

Turning back around with a whirl, she took off in a run, zigging and zagging around the corners in hopes of loosing the demented thing that was following her. Nothing made sense, why was she here? Why was it chasing her? Who was it she needed so urgently to get to? She had no answers, she just knew she was here for a reason beyond her grasping fingers, she knew something was chasing her and whoever she needed to get to, she needed to get to soon or it was game over. For her, for them, for everyone she cared for or will ever come to care for.

Taking a sharp right, Bella made it to the centre of the maze, an open, round cavity of the thick maze. The fireflies had all but disappeared, off dancing somewhere else she guessed. The fog had drawn back too, only taking spot in the only other exit to the centre of the maze on the opposite side of Bella.

Her heart beat erratically in her chest, here, that someone she needed to find was here. But where? She couldn't see anyone or anything remotely pulling at her, tugging her in a direction. Only the foggy exit, and she knew that whatever was still chasing her liked to play in the fog and the darkness. It liked to stay hidden, and for some reason she knew she needed to get away from it, get the person she was looking for away from it.

Straightening out her spine, she took solid steps to the path on the other side of the centre, her heartbeat picking up pace every step she took. Once she was only a few feet away from it, she could see a gate locking her out... Or locking someone in. She couldn't tell which one, she could hardly tell you which way was up or down in this new weird world she found herself in.

The gate was a rusty golden, tarnished and marred so much that in some places the gold had flaked off, leaving only a blackened iron to peak through. In the middle of the gate, where the handles should have been, was a sun, the black breaking through at the points of the star, giving the sun a look as if it was bleeding.

Before she could think, she had taken off again, running at the gate and grasping the bars with a tight grip, trying to pull it open. They were there, just behind those bars, she was close, so close. Giving another hard yank, Bella felt like crying when the gate only rattled and grumbled its rebellion. Why wouldn't the damn thing open?

A pale hand wrapped around her wrist from the other side with startling gentleness, and all her efforts ceased in that one moment. Looking up, she saw the hand was attached to a blurry figure. Everything about them was blurry, the fog damning any of her efforts to see who it was.

They were short, but still managing to have an inch or two topping her height, pale, male by the looks of it, but that was all she could tell from her side of the gate. Until she saw their eyes. Startling blues and greys, like a settling sea just after a raging storm. His left eye however had a ring of mottled brown around the pupil, splintering of in the higher right corner, splitting the blues and greys with its contrasting colour across his iris.

The colours were beautiful, without a doubt, but it was what lay buried underneath that had her racing heart stop dead in its tracks. Wisdom, age and a tortured kind of longing. A heady mix that left her breathless.

Bella started to pull at the gates again, determined to get him out of its prison, for she was sure that's what it was, but the heavy metal wouldn't budge an inch. A loud bleeping began to ring out through the air, as if ticking down the time she had to free him. He came closer but his visage didn't change, only another arm slipped through the cage and the hand joined its counter-part, wrapping around her white knuckled hand.

The breath and the tickling of a fang on the back of her throat was back, making her heart jump and miss a beat, the bleeping grew louder, ringing in her ears, but she heard the one word the blurry man said loud and clear. His voice rough and ragged with miss-use, an accent she couldn't put a finger on decorating the words edges, his tone dusted with strict urgency.

"Run."

* * *

Bella came to with a crash and shattered memories. The bleeping carrying on just from her right obnoxiously loud. Groaning in pain and blinking wearily at the white light that burned her eyes, she tried to recall what was happening, where she was and what she was doing.

Like a flood gate being opened, Bella remembered Bon-Temps, Nana, Sookie, Jason, Merlottes and... A large knife. She tried to sit up but the wires attached to her stopped her from getting far, only having enough slack to let her push herself up onto her elbows, so she was partially sitting against the rough pillows of the bed she found herself in.

"Oh thank god, you're awake! You had us all so worried Bella, especially in the state we found you in!"

Bella watched confusedly as Sookie came jolting out of the bed side chair and at her with swirl of blonde locks and a relief painted face. Looking around, Bella took in the heart monitor, the bleeping still emanating from it, white sheets and even whiter walls. She was in hospital... Why was she in hospital?

"What state? What happened... Nana... Where's Nana?! There was this man... Jesus Sookie! Help me get the fuck out of this bed... He had a knife!"

Bella frantically pulled and ripped the wires from her, the ones leading to her hand stung as the IV was ripped free, spilling the liquid onto the now crumpled sheets. She made to get out of bed, to find Nana but her legs gave out and she crumbled to the floor as soon as her heel took any pressure of her body weight, only Sookie and Bill grabbing her shoulders and waist, helping brace Bella against the bed frame stopped her from landing face first on the light blue linoleum.

She didn't have time to question Bills sudden appearance as the weight of what she last saw with her eyes hit home. Dear god, please let Adele be okay. Surely she was? Nana was most likely just grabbing a cup of tea from one of the shitty vendors lining the hospital walls. Nana had practically raised Bella, Sookie and Jason. Adele was stubborn, she carried on no matter what, no silly man with a knife could... Could...

Sookie's stricken face made Bella's own hopeful one shatter and for tears to swell in her eyes. No, Bella refused, what she was thinking wasn't possible. Bella looked away from Sookie, deliberately refusing to see the sadness swimming in her face. If Bella pretended it wasn't there, then nothing was wrong. She was right, she had to be, Nana was just around the corner. Even as she mentally denied everything her brain was shouting at her, her tongue took action.

"Where's Grandma Sook? Please... No... She's okay right?... She's..."

Sookie held back a sob, but it was still loud enough for Bella to catch and force her to look a Sookie at the abrupt noise. Sookie's own eyes had glazed over with un-shed tears. Bella couldn't breathe, her throat constricted and her whole body shook with restrained emotions. Her resolve broke when Bill spoke up somewhere from her left.

"I'm sorry. You're Grandmother didn't make it. You had quite the bump to the head, you've been in hospital for the last three weeks as the swelling to your brain decreased. I'm... Sorry."

And just like that Bella couldn't hold it in any more, couldn't hold anything in any more. Something in her head crunched and crumbled, then there was chaos. The small window above the bed shattered and sprayed shards of glittering glass all over the room, The still blaring heart monitor crumpled in on itself as if something from inside was sucking it in, ending up with it flying across the room and smashing into the opposite wall with a loud thunk. The bed, the IV drip, the metal chair... Everything followed suit, bending and breaking in on itself and flying across the room in multiple directions.

Sookie screamed, Bill pulled the startled blonde closer to him for safety, but all Bella could focus on was the hailstorm raging inside of her, Sookie's crying drowning out her ears. It was her fault, she could of done more, done something. She had let Nana... she had caused... It was her fault Adele was gone.

Once she had started letting it out, she couldn't stop it from happening. No matter how hard she tried to stop the rooms contents from smashing around the place, to reign her wild emotion's in, she couldn't. The flood gate had opened, the dam had burst and she couldn't stem the flow from her mind. A part of her wanted to carry on, wanted to rip the whole hospital apart. A part of her, that sounded so much like Charlie and Renee were screaming at her, cursing her and everything she was or will be. The last part of her, the one who could still focus on Sookie and her worried face, wanted everything to stop, to end.

Bill tried to keep Sookie close to him as the rooms contents swirled and crashed around the room as if caught up in an invisible tornado, but the small blonde had managed to wriggle free from his tight grasp while he was distracted. Sookie made a dash for the brunette, dodging and skirting Bills reaching arms and hands. Once she finally managed to dodge Bill and the flying crushed objects, she smashed into Bella with enough force to knock her back, once again sending Bella sailing to the floor, this time however, not alone.

Sookie had always thought Bella's gift had gone, she had never seen her use it since they both still had grazed knobby knees and dirt smudges on their faces. It always gave her a tranquil sense of hope, that one day maybe hers too would just go away and she could be normal. Right now though, that fragile dream was just as crushed as the bed was, Sookie realized it had never gone away like she hoped for herself, Bella had simply pushed it so far back and locked it down. And by the state of the still swirling room and a crying and shaking Bella, it was a dangerous and disastrous thing to do.

But Sookie had no time to ponder why Bella had so diligently locked her gift away, or why it had suddenly come back with such a vengeful force, she needed to calm her cousin down from... Whatever was happening. Scrambling to her knees, Sookie Pulled back slightly from Bella, holding her shoulders as she took in Bella's wide eyes and blank face, jumping slightly and growing frantic at the sight of blood.

Bella was bleeding from her nose and eyes, rivets of red cascading down her pale complexion. Bella's pupils were blown, so large they nearly took away all of the iris, but what worried Sookie the most was the far away stare to them, Bella was there, but her mind was somewhere far far away, not really taking in anything at all.

Sookie grew frantic as everything that was flying around the room picked up speed and the bleeding that was trickling down Bella's face began to become a waterfall of sickly red. Shaking Bella's shoulders harshly, Sookie tried to snap her out of it, to bring her back from where-ever Bella had been taken to by her mind but nothing was working.

"Bella?! Come on Bella snap out of it! Bill do something!"

Bill was just about to come hurtling towards them, when the flying objects simply dropped to the floor, Bella's eyes flicking around the room before rolling up into her skull as she passed out cold, flopping onto the floor as Sookie cradled her limp hospital gown clad body.

Sookie reached up and felt the coolness of Bella's sticky cheek, the worry and fear building in her stomach became violent storm at sea when she felt and saw the coldness and the shallow and sparse breathes Bella was taking. Tapping Bella on the cheek, Sookie tried to wake her up but once again, nothing was working.

"Bella? Bella wake up! Wake up now! For goodness sake Bella wake up!"

The large hand that settled on Sookie's shoulder made her head snap up to Bills frowning face.

"She's fine, her heartbeat is steady. What was that Sookie?"

Sookie pulled Bella slightly closer to her own body when Bill asked the dreaded question, as if shielding the unconscious brunette from the prying eyes of her curious and worried looking boyfriend. Gran had always told her to never tell of her own gift, or Bella's, it was rule number one in their household. When people asked it became instinctual for Sookie's well ingrained guards to slam up and the urge to run to rear its head. But this was Bill, her Bill. He wouldn't judge or tell anyone else. He knew about her gift, how much difference could explaining Bella's be?

"Bella's...Bella's like me."

Bill crouched down to her level, settling on his haunches, searching her face and eyes for something Sookie had no clue what. His eyes darted back between her and Bella before settling back onto Sookie, having obviously come to a decision.

"That didn't look quite like telepathy to me Sookie."

Sookie scoffed at his poorly hidden curiosity and poorly worded question. If he wanted to know something he should have just came out and asked, not edge his way for answers. Surely he knew she wouldn't lie to him?

"No, of course not. I said like me, not the same as me. I can read peoples minds, Bella's... Is a bit more complicated. She can do things she has seen, Gran had called it replication or adaptation. Bella, when she used to do it, called it mimicry. Gran used to say where I was naturally good at reading people, Bella was good at learning and adapting and god had only gave us the gifts that suited us most."

One of Bills thick eyebrows rose high on his head, and Sookie knew he had picked up something in her rant that had piqued his interest.

"What do you mean used to?"

Sookie sucked in a sharp breathe. She hardly knew why Bella had her gift, let alone why she had hidden it for so long, or if it had gone and had simply come back. As bad as it was, Sookie hoped it was the latter, if it was the latter, that meant she could still hope that one day her own 'gift' could go away. Looking up at Bill, Sookie came to a loss of words. How was she meant to explain something she herself didn't fully understand?

"Well, Bella used to always come down for the holidays. Jason used to think her gift was amazing, he would always heckle her to do something but Bella used to like doing it. Then one year, when we were around ten, she came for the summer holiday. Jason, like always, asked her to do something, she just simply walked away. When anyone asked her about it she wouldn't say a single word, just get up and leave the room. I thought it had gone you know? That she had gotten rid of it and she didn't have to put up with it any more like I did. Looks like it's came back."

Bill's eyes took on a sharp edge to them, almost glinting mockingly at Sookie's wide blue's, his face became more serious than it normally was, which was saying something within itself, the lines on his face becoming harsh under the unflattering florescent lighting of the hospital room they were huddled in.

"Not come back, repressed. She repressed it. Which itself is a marvel... I suppose your gifts are a lot like our vampire nature. Like a vampire having refused feeding for too long only to slaughter a whole village once their resolve broke due to the hunger, or emotions in Bella's case."

Now it was Sookie's time to frown in confusion. Repression? Why would Bella do that? What had happened when they were children to make her do such a thing?

"I don't know... What do you mean repress? You can actually do that?"

It was no secret Sookie loathed her gift, but she never fully pushed it away, she couldn't. It was a part of her as much as she hated to admit it. Faced with the very plausible possibility of being able to repress it, she couldn't bring herself to try it. Which was odd, she had always believed, given the first chance, she would have dropped her telepathy faster than you could blink.

"Something most likely happened when you two were ten, something traumatic enough for Bella to decide to push it away and never use it again. This... What just happened was the dam bursting from being built up for far too long. I hazard a guess it was the news of your Grandmother's... Untimely death that was the last drop the dam could take. This is dangerous. We need to get you both out of here."

Bill bent down even further and scooped Bella's still form into his arms, ushering Sookie to stand too so they could make a hasty exit.

"Wait, leave? No, we need the doctors to check Bella out, she's bleeding Bill! She could be really hurt..."

"Trust me Sookie, she and you are safer far from here. I wont be the only vampire in the building, hospitals are like a free buffet for my kind. Soon the nurses and doctors will be running in here from the noise, how are you going to explain all... This?"

Bill waved his hand around the destroyed room, the wrecked furniture and dented walls. How could she explain all this? There was only one answer, she couldn't. Sookie nodded minutely at Bill.

"Fine, lets just get home."

* * *

Bella had drifted the week following her return to Adele's house, feeling like someone had cut her strings and she couldn't do much more than slump to the floor like a useless marionette. She also felt hollow like one, hollowed wood painted to look reminiscent of a human being, but never fully reaching that stage.

Unfortunately for Bella, her Nana's wake and funeral had taken place when she was in her mini coma, so she had missed out on the, according to Sookie, lovely fair well. But even knowing where the grave was, Sookie having told her, Bella couldn't bring herself to go to it. She was half afraid of what she would see there, what she would feel when faced with the irrefutable proof of her own failing.

She ate, she slept, as much as she could grasp from the ever slippery slope of slumber, and she went to work like everyone else did. She carried on, but it felt fake, a scene from a play she had to act out repeatedly. She was going through the motions, but the routine helped keep herself grounded, kept the nightmares that plagued her sleep away. A replaying of Adele's death, sometimes joined by either Sookie or Jason, then there was that weird fogged one that she forgot when she woke up. All she could recall of that one was eyes, and even they were hazy at best.

Bella sat, wrapped up in a multi coloured crochet blanket, on the bench pushed up on the front porch, waiting for her cousin to arrive. The last week had been hard, incredibly hard after the events that took place at the hospital. The thing about the Stackhouse siblings and Bella was they each had their own way of coping with grief. Sookie cried and shown her every emotion on her sleeve, Bella disconnected from everything and everyone and got lost in her own mind and Jason... Jason got angry. Unluckily, both Jason's and Sookie's grieving methods had butted heads, causing the normally close siblings to fight like cats and dogs, leaving Bella in the middle of the frosty period of the fight. Both refusing to talk to the other, to sort things out.

If Adele was there with them right now, she would have solidly hit the three of them around the head, dragged them by their ears into the living room and made them apologize to each other, forced them at spatula point to promise each other not to argue again. But Adele wasn't there, and Bella's own tries of getting the stubborn blondes to talk to the other paled in comparison. Adele had taught them staunchly that family was family, nothing could or should come between that. God knows Bella was running out of family members and she didn't, couldn't loose either Sookie or Jason.

That was why she was waiting outside, just as the night was falling, to hopefully catch a glimpse of an elusive Jason Stackhouse. She had been sitting outside for the last two days waiting and hoping he would come around, but so far he was a no show. She was worried about him, she was worried about Sookie too, if they couldn't see it, Bella could. They needed each other more then ever now. Bella needed them.

So Imagine her surprise when a familiar pick up truck pulled into the drive way and Bella saw the iconic torn jeans and cut off sleeved shirt that could only belong to Jason. Bella wasted no time in getting up from her seat and making her way over to him with strong strides. She had played the soft part, if they wanted to play hard ball Bella would.

"Jason, where the hell have you been?"

Once she had gotten close enough, Blanket still wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl, Bella could see Jason's face properly, and if she wasn't worried before, she was now. He was pale, as pale as she had ever seen the normally tanned man. Sweat was glistening on his brow and forehead and Bella could see the odd jerk or twitch to his limbs as he stood there, staring blankly at her.

"Jay are you ill? Do you need a doctor?"

Bella went to reach out for him but he smacked her hands away with a deep scowl and huff. Bella automatically retracted her hands, feeling like he was a wild animal, one wrong move and she would scare him off. He had only just come home. Because that's what Adele's house was, no matter if Bella, Sookie or Jason had house's of their own, Adele's rickety, old painted house was home. It always would be.

"I'm fine! I'm not ill, I've just left my shirt here and I'm here to get it then I'm heading out!"

Yanking open the front door, Jason disappeared inside and Bella shrugged of the blanket and left it on folded over the porch. She was half afraid with the state Jason was in he would pass out in the hallway. Or god forbid the kitchen, Bella didn't think she could handle that imagery. Looking down at her outfit, Bella realized she looked alright. Not exactly glamorous, but when had she ever?

White washed jeans, her trusty boots and leather jacket and a simple black tank. It would have to do for where-ever Jason was planning on running off to. She couldn't let him head out on his own, not with the way he was, and to be perfectly honest, she missed him. She had seen Sookie everyday, she knew how she was doing, but Jason? Jason had practically blinked off the radar and Bella didn't want him to do that again. Not when she had a say in it.

Strolling over to Jason's truck, ignoring his driver seat's door being left wide open, Bella walked around it and pulled open the passenger seat, settling herself in to the worn leather. Jason came out a few minutes later, shrugging on the new shirt he had come all this way for. Once he had settled into his own seat and buckled up, he finally noticed her and sighed heavily.

"What are you doing Bells? Get out and go home."

Bella ignored his order, any other day she would have sassed him back. But not today, not with that hazy look in his eyes and something not quite right sitting heavily in her stomach. Instead she reached over and buckled her own seat belt, ignoring Jason and spoke to the wind-shield in his place.

"No I'm coming with you. You look ready to be sick or hit the deck. What ever you need to do, you can do it with your little cousin tailing you. Or I swear to god I'll get out this car and take the spark plug out, see you drive off and not turn up for a fucking week then."

Jason grimaced at her not so subtle reminder of his disappearing act, but he soon brightened his face. Bella felt bad, she hadn't meant to have brought it up, she just... Did. He didn't deserve her anger. No one did but herself, and she surely wasn't helping to change his decision of sticking around. Then she felt warm fingers, too warm, settle over her closed fist pressed down at her side and into the crack of the car seat. Glancing up, she was met with Jason's sad face. He wasn't crying, wasn't shaking, nothing gave the sadness away but that glimmer in his eyes, one you could only spot if you knew him long enough. Jason was just as hurt as Bella and Sookie, even if he didn't show it. Bella didn't want him shouldering that feeling alone, not while she was there for him.

Then his hand was gone and they were driving away from the house into the settling night. It was only after they drove past Bon-Temps welcoming sign that Bella grew a little suspicious of were they were actually going, and thankfully Jason answered her un-asked one with, you guessed it, a question.

"How do you feel about vampire bars Bells?"

And suddenly Bella's haphazard decision to come along felt like the right one. For one, when had Jason become pro-vamp? And two, what kind of shit would he have dug himself into if she weren't there to dig him back out again? Running a tired hand down her face and leaning against the side of her seat, Bella rolled the window down and let some fresh air blow across her face, cooling her off and helping settle what felt like her exposed nerves.

"Look's like we're going to find out doesn't it?"

* * *

 **A.N-** I know it's been a long time coming but, if you read my other story you will already know this, I've recently been diagnosed with Epilepsy and to be perfectly honest, it's been hard getting used to the meds and the meds getting used to me.

I can't promise there won't be another wait, because there could be, but I do promise I wont give up on this story. Some chapters might just come out a lot later than others.

Well, I hope you liked this chapter, and fingers crossed, the next should be out within a few days time, around Thursday/Friday.

THANYOU to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed. It means an awful lot and it gets me typing faster ;) So, if you guys can spare the time, please drop a review! :)


	4. Respect

_**With Bill and Sookie...**_

Sookie slid closer to Bill, the water of the hot candle lit bath tub sloshing around them. The conversation had been heady topics so far, Sookie having just told Bill about her... Uncle... Bartlett. It was hard, more than hard, to re-hash those memories she would rather keep buried down. Now he knew, and he was still here, with her. She had believed for so long that if she ever did tell anyone, anyone else but her grandmother, they would either call her a liar or leave. Just like her parents had.

Instead Bill had listened, running a hand up and down her back, his finger tips ghosting the curvature of her spine. It didn't seem like much, but when thinking about what took place all those years prior, getting lost in those morbid memories, that simple touch had kept her grounded and in the present time. Stopping her from getting lost in a place and time she never wanted to revisit.

Trying to lighten the tense and sombre mood, Sookie nuzzled into Bill's wet chest, trying to convey in words how much he meant to her, but coming up short. Words were underrated really. Such simple twists and curls of the tongue that was meant to convey something as deep and complex as feelings or pain. It just didn't make sense.

"Don't ever leave me Bill."

The words fluttered along the crease of Bill's neck where it met and melted into his collar bone. Warm and minty breath heating the skin there, hackling the hairs and making him shudder slightly. A deep chuckle escaped his chest, rumbled through the water and shook Sookie slightly with the rise and fall of his chest.

"Nothing could take me away. Not even a Grimm."

Confusion clouded over Sookie's bright face as she turned his words around her head. She had never heard that word before, apart from when it was attached to death. By the tone of Bill's voice, and use of the word, he wasn't talking about death but something else entirely. Sookie's curiosity was well and truly piqued.

"A Grim? Like a Grim reaper?"

Bill chuckled once more, forgetting who he was talking to for a moment. Sliding deeper into the warm and toasty water, dragging Sookie down with him. Glancing over, he stroked his thumb across her cheek, stopping midway to pluck up a tangled, wet golden lock that had fallen into Sookie's eyes and brushed it back.

"No, not a Grim reaper. A Grimm. they're apart of old vampire folklore. Like your tooth fairy... Or more accurately your Bogey man."

Now it was time for Sookie to laugh. Out of all the things she didn't know, of things she never really thought of before, vampires having their own myths was almost silly in her eyes. What could scare a vampire? From what she knew, vampire's were the top dog of the food chain, they were the things that went bump in the night.

"Go on! You can't just say that and leave me hanging Bill. Tell me more."

Bill shook his head, half regretting about bringing it up in the first place. Vampire's were secretive, almost so much that it was ingrained in the DNA to be so. It felt wrong to tell a human anything about them, even if it was just a story, even if it was Sookie he was speaking to.

"It's only a fable meant to scare fledglings Sookie. Nothing more."

Sookie's smile dropped. That was the one problem with Bill she had found. No matter how much she opened up to him, it was always a battle to get the same from him. How were they meant to have a relationship if he knew everything about her, but she knew next to nothing about him? The answer? They couldn't.

"You know about my world Bill, all I want is to know about yours too. Is that so much to ask?"

Bill grimaced when Sookie pointed out exactly how he had been acting. The truth was he was just as scared as she was about telling him of her uncle. His past wasn't pretty, it was bloody and littered with dead bodies and ghost's. Tainting someone like Sookie with the ugly truth felt as wrong as telling all the vampire secrets to her. It didn't sit right in his stomach. But the least he could do, after all she had told him tonight, was to tell her this one little story. It was hardly important to the vampire species survival after all.

"Apparently, according to very old legend that is, the last Grimm was over five thousand years ago. It's said that a very few, very rare, vampires have what you would call a mate."

Sookie frowned deeply and Bill almost reached out to smooth it down with his fingers. Sookie, amongst other things, was impatient. But if she really wanted to know, she would have to settle down and wait. The legend was old, with varying twist's from who told it and had a hand full of missing points that was lost due to the erosion of time. Before Sookie could speak, Bill carried on.

"It's no secret that vampires, for lack of a better word, are dark creatures. They're possessive, predatory and cunning at best. At worse? Well it's not hard to imagine. You have to understand we're not human anymore, we lost that as soon as we were turned. The legend says that the gods themselves created someone to complete the beast that lurks inside all of us... For the favoured vampire that is. Someone that would fit the vampire perfectly. Who doesn't tame the beast or run from it, but embrace's who and what that vampire is and will be. The mate is meant to make the vampire stronger in a sense, how? That bits been lost over time but what I've heard is the mate gives the vampire something to be possessive, predatory and cunning over."

Taking a breather and trying to gather what he had been told so long ago, Bill tried to find the right words to make Sookie understand the tale. It wasn't easy, without experiencing the vampire nature yourself, it was hard to understand it. But he carried on.

"A Grimm happens when one of the chosen vampires doesn't meet their mate. Due to timing or death of the mate, it's a big world, it's understandable with how many obstacles stand in the way. The red haze comes first..."

"But what about if-"

"This is a really long tale Sookie. I'll try and explain it as best as I can from what little I do know, which isn't a lot. But can you save the questions for after?"

Sookie's mouth clamped shut, she pouted but eventually nodded her agreement.

"The Red Haze is as it say's on the tin. A red fog starts spreading over the vampires vision, colouring everything they see, also allowing people to see a Grimm for what it is. Their emotions start to fade one by one, like candles being blown out until only anger and hunger are left to run freely. It's a slow process, but when they reach the final stage... They rampage. The last Grimm had apparently taken out a whole continent before it was stopped. The last tribe to fight it had found out it couldn't be staked, this is where legend get's sketchy. Some how, one tribes woman had managed to corner the Grimm in a cave and cut its heart out with a wooden and bone ritualistic knife. Some say her beauty just made the Grimm die and others say the Grimm couldn't bare hurting the woman, so killed 's little proof of course, some cave drawings in Africa, one Chinese scroll. Now we just think it was a tale of a warlord loosing his wife. Or maybe even an outbreak of a disease like rabies in a small tribe. Who knows?"

Sookie sat still in the bath, for once lost for words. What could she say? If that ever took place in real life, it didn't seem to be a cautionary tale to her. But one of tragedy and sorrow. Instead of expressing this, Sookie decided to lighten the mood once more, trying to joke off the unsettling tale.

"What a... Interesting story. Gruesome, but interesting."

Bill laughed and as the thick air around the evaporated, Sookie joined in with his laughter. Snuggling in tighter, Sookie decided to stop asking questions and just enjoy the quiet and peaceful time with Bill. They had talked too much and for too long about sad stories, dark themes and unhappy endings. It felt foreboding, like an omen ringing off in the distance.

* * *

Bella P.O.V

Night time had fallen slowly but deftly around Bella Swan and Jason Stackhouse as they made it to Shreveport, parking the truck in a crammed car park, a neon red light glinting and shining in the dark telling Bella where they were. She had expected many things when she had turned the idea of a vampire bar over in her mind. From leather clad BDSM seedy club to a wannabe Disney vampire teen rave. What she got was something mixed between the two vastly different themes and feelings. Fangtasia, the line leading up to the entrance of the bar showing off goth's, stripper-esque men and women and collars and chains... Lots of collars and chains. There was even one man with a... Muzzle. Yes, that was definitely a muzzle.

Bella was a little disenchanted and disappointed with what she was met with in reality compared to what her mind had conjured up. A bar for vampires had so much potential, if Bella was the owner, for one she wouldn't of set up in Shreveport of all places. Second was the god awful name. If they wanted to be witty, then surely there was better options? Build it on a pier, call it Vam-pier. Even a restaurant that would be named Anne on Rice was better than the Disney name twist they had settled on. It was... Predictable. Something Bella has learned to never associate with Vampires. Then again, maybe it was unpredictable in it's predictability. Shaking her head, Bella tried to grasp her focus back to where it needed to be, Jason, who was currently storming his way towards the queue entering the building, practically leaving a dust trail in his wake. Huffing in exasperation, Bella jogged to keep up with the blonde man.

Thankfully the queue was fast moving and it wasn't long before both Bella and Jason stood in front of a tall and imposing female Vampire. If the fangs didn't give it away, her corset, skyscraper high heels, leather pants and haughty but bored expression gave her species away straight of the bat. Nothing spoke more of a dispassionate outlook then a vampire it seemed. Funny, Bella thought, how they were the one's who always looked miserable but had the pleasure of living forever. A bit ironic too, if you asked her, but then again, mother nature sure did love that little twist.

"ID's."

The vampire woman lazily flung her hand out, palms up, waiting for Bella and Jason to drop their respective ID's into her hand. Her voice had a slight twinge of an accent, but it was over shadowed by her drawling and monotone voice. Bella almost wanted to try and rile the vampire up just to get rid of that tone... Almost. The woman... Vampire was more than a little intimidating. Still, she had that slight urge flare up to just poke at her at least once, just to see if she could get a reaction other than boredom.

Jason was the first to hand over his ID, hand tittering a little. She frowned down at the limb, Jason wasn't nervous, he never got nervous, so why was he shaking? Bella slowly followed suit, dropping hers on top of Jason's before the vampire woman could snatch her hand back to read the ID's.

"Well, would you look at that, Jason Stackhouse. You don't know a Sookie Stackhouse by any chance?"

Jason cast a quick glance around him, as if expecting Sookie herself to pop out at the mention of her name. However when no blonde tornado blew their way, he simply reached up and scratched the back of his neck, speaking quickly as he looked over the woman's shoulder to the club inside, obviously itching to get inside. Bella however, was more than a little cautious, wondering how this imposing woman knew her cousin, her sweet, southern bell of a cousin. They obviously didn't run in the same circles, they couldn't be more different... So then how?

"Yeah, yeah. She's my sister."

Jason made the mistake of looking directly into the woman's eye's and Bella watched avidly as the woman's stare seemed to lock him into place like a viper. Bella felt something twinge in the back of her skull, almost like a bungee cord pulling on her brain. Bella knew that feeling all too well. The vampire woman was about to do something not quite normal.

Instead of turning away, trying to pull back her need to watch and copy like she had done so many times in the past, since she was ten, Bella swallowed down the dread slinking its way up her gut and forced herself to watch. Renee's and Charlie's voice mutedly voicing their derisions and disgust of her in the distance of her mind. She had to do this. It could be useful, she had promised herself she wouldn't be unprepared again. She wouldn't let Nana's end come as a first act. Not when she could do something about it. What ever this vampire was going to do could mean life and death in another time, another person... Another dear family member.

"And are you special like your sister?"

Bella could feel it, see it, smell it and taste it. Yet at the same time, she saw nothing, felt nothing, smelt nothing and tasted nothing. Her gift was a hard thing to describe, it was like seeing the world for the first time with fresh newborn eyes and simultaneously becoming nothing. An abyss that took in everything it encountered, absorbing it, adapting it, pulling it into the nothingness to become a part of it.

This time, it was like watching the vampire woman's energy invade Jason, pushing his own back as it took over. But it only happened in one part, his head. When Jason answered the vampire back with a robotic voice, the conclusion clicked and Bella realized what she was witnessing, what she was absorbing to use for herself. _Fucking mind control._ If before she had the passing thought that Bill's kind was, or could be, more dangerous to a human than a cold one, this, actual god given mind control, sealed the deal.

These vampires were lethal. And she was walking into their den... Jason, big, 'loud mouthed, spoke before he thought and he often didn't think' Jason, was walking into this den too. Fuck. However, this could be the card that turned the game to her favour if she placed it down at the right time. Mind control, if used correctly, could have saved Nana. It could save Jason, it could save Sookie if the need ever called for it. So, despite her gut churning and apprehension, Bella soaked it up, soaked it in and locked it down. On the downside, if used at the wrong time, it would lead to her death. But what was life without a risk or two here and there?

The woman gave Jason a sardonic twist of her lips, pulled back and jerked her head in the direction of the open door, silently ordering Jason to go through and leave her presence. Thinking the invitation extended to herself, Bella followed Jason's lead, sliding around the woman who still stood in their way to get through. However, Bella realised too late that it was only for Jason as a hand shot out and wrapped around her bicep, halting her in place with an iron grip. Bella's head jerked to her side and locked eyes with the woman, who was smiling at her, one eyebrow raised high on her forehead as she took the smaller and younger woman in with appreciative eyes. She had a strong grip, Bella would give her that, after all, she shouldn't have expected anything less from a vampire, even if this was a whole other brand of vampire Bella had not ran into before or had any dealings with. Fuck indeed, she was well out of her depths here. She felt like she was treading water in the ocean, exhaustion slowly setting in on her limbs, making them grow heavy, bringing her closer and closer to her watery and spluttering death.

"Now don't you smell just divine. I haven't heard of the name Swan, not in these parts before... What are you doing with Stackhouse?"

Bella could feel it again, could smell it again, could see it again. The woman, this vampire was trying to put the mind ju-ju on her. That angered her a lot more than it should have really. It reminded her of Edward... Or was it Edwin? It didn't matter what his name was, what mattered was she had been on the receiving end of mind games before, and like hell would she allow someone else to put her back through that, even if it was for as little of time as a minute or two. Though, down right denying the vampire would do two things, annoy the woman who was currently holding her and ten times stronger than she was and two, give away that her mind fuckery didn't work on her, either piquing her interest or wrath.

So that left Bella with two options, try and run for the hills before the blonde could catch her, or two, hit back with what she was getting hit with. The only problem was she had never tried this thing before, not once, and having just _'learned'_ it, it could go horribly wrong on her first try. Although, there was never a time like the present to give it a go, and if she played her cards right, she could find out why this vampire woman was so hung up on her cousins. Was the risk worth the possible disaster that could follow? Yes. When it came to Sookie and Jason, every god damned risk was worth it in Bella's eyes.

So Bella edged closer to the woman, her nose nearly pressing into the others if she was tall enough, stared deeply in her eyes, and tried her best to copy what she had seen. Unlike Jason however, the woman's aura flared and fought back momentarily, before collapsing in on itself and letting Bella's in, likely not used to being on the receiving end. She supposed the vampire was used to doing the mind trick, instead of having it done on her, but that meant if she had to do it again, for whatever reason, she would put up more of a fight and maybe, just maybe, it might not work. Although, with the woman's upturned face turned slack, She would be lying if she said she wasn't going to enjoy this even a little bit.

"Don't ever try that trick on me again. Never. Now, take your hand off my arm, back away and tell me why you're so interested in my cousins?"

The woman had that same blank look that had disturbed Bella so much when it was on Jason's face, and her voice copied that same monotone drawl Jason's had flowed to as her arm dropped from her arm and flopped uselessly to her side, taking a single step away from Bella as she did so.

"My maker has taken interest in what Sookie Stackhouse can do. He finds it useful, he wants to have that ability available to him if he needs it. That means getting Stackhouse on side..."

Bella's eyes clamped shut as she realised what this meant, these vampires, this woman in front of her and this 'maker' knew what Sookie could do, and they wanted that. Jesus Christ, the vampire bar Sookie had visited, Bella would place all her bets on that bar and this one being the vary same building. Bella was jolted out of her wondering when someone shouted out from behind her, telling her to hurry the hell up. Stealing her spine and straightening out, Bella gave one last ditch effort to keep and take something good from this night, equally not wanting these people to find out what she could do. If they wanted Sookie for mind reading, what the hell would they do to someone like her?

 _Kill her._ That's all Bella could think of. She couldn't be controlled and she was a liability. Someone who could turn their gifts against them, use them against them, these vampires, the cold ones, anyone really, wouldn't put up with having someone like that walking around freely. No, the safest option for them would be to kill her, take her out of the equation all together. She wasn't going to die. Not today at least.

"Back off from Sookie. And don't ever, and I mean ever, speak to anyone of what I did, or what I can do."

Bella pulled herself back, pulled away from the woman and snapped the connection shut and marched into the flashing building, determined to find Jason and try and selvage any situation he had gotten himself into. Because he had, there was no question about it, this was Jason, you leave him in a padded room in a straight jacket for five minutes alone, you could be sure as hell when you got back the door would be cracked and the room on fire.

However, as Bella wiggled and slipped into the crowd of bodies in the building, Pam snapped back to herself and stared incredulously after her. Did that small human... Did that girl... Did she just fucking glamour her? Then a slow but sly grin slithered onto Pam's face, tweaking the corners up. Now, that was an ability that was interesting, not this fucking telepathy thing her maker was so hung up on. Think of all the shit they could do with a human on side that could glamour vampires? Actual vampires without having the need for a maker bond in place? She needed to tell Eric.

This Bella Swan was good, Pam admitted, but had nothing on the experience Pam had gathered on glamouring people. It all fell to how you worded things, how the person being glamoured took those words. If Bella had ordered her not to ever tell anyone, then Pam's hands would have been tied behind her back. However, the brunette had said speak, Pam didn't need to speak to Eric to tell him of this discovery. She just needed a pen and paper.

And that is exactly what Pam did as she waved off the line, ordered Ginger to take over, grabbed a pen and paper and made her way to Eric's office. Almost vibrating in excitement to tell him of the little spitfire that had, what others and many had failed to do before, surprise Pam. And in that short time, despite what had taken place, the little woman had yet again did something many had failed before her. Earn her respect. Oh, this was going to be fun.

* * *

 **NEXT CHAPTER:** Eric saunters into the picture, a clash and someone goes missing...

 **A.N:** I am one of the worst fanfiction authors, I know, you don't need to tell me. However, I haven't had life intervene for a while now and while it's peaceful, I will hopefully be catching up on my stories. To all those who have stuck and waited for this, THANK YOU so much, you lot have the patience of a saint, no exaggeration. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. No Godric yet, but he is coming, I promise, I'm just building up to it, trying to place Bella well and firmly in the frame before that take's it's course. When he does come, trust me, it's hopefully going to be explosive...

Please be gentle, I have no Beta, so all mistakes are mine.

To all those who have reviewed, favourited and followed, I wish I could do more than say thank you and send a virtual hug, but alas, technology hasn't gotten that far yet, so **THANKYOU.**

As always, please leave a review, they make me feel all warm and tingly. Until next time- **Sparks94**


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